Music
Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 – Yn Rio
Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18 – Yn Rio
Working with Carwyn Ellis is always a pleasure. I’ve been designing and developing his websites and laying out album artwork for the past 5 years or so.
When it came to designing his new album with Rio 18, a live album recorded with the BBC National Orchestra Wales, Carwyn’s vision aligned perfectly with mine.
Using a painting by Michael Gillette as the centrepiece. The inspiration was taken from 1960’s record design, mostly from Verve Records (Stan Getz/Luiz Bonfa). The combination of bold colours and Helvetica typography delivers a timeless and classic feel and suits Rio 18’s music perfectly.
Photography for the back and inner sleeve is by Adam Whitmore.
MusicBox Studios
MusicBox Studios
Since 1996 Musicbox Studios has been providing the best rehearsal and recording rooms in Wales.
Ctrl Alt Design were approached to give them a long overdue re-brand. We created a brand new logo and badge icon, alongside a range of print materials and a responsive contemporary website.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Europe ’19
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Europe ’19
‘Europe ’19’ is a collection of tracks taken from King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s European bootlegs from 2019. Ctrl Alt Design put together the packaging for this release on Bubblewrap Collective.
Original artwork for the live bootlegs by Jason Galea was converted to fit into 3 colours to match up. The typography and overall layout style was designed to be a nod to Grateful Dead’s ‘Europe ’72’ album design, albeit a darker theme.
A logo was also designed to combine the lizard image with the welsh flag. This sat alongside a Welsh translation of the band’s name and was included on the cover and as a free sticker.
Welsh Music Prize
Welsh Music Prize
Since 2015 we’ve been creating graphics for the annual Welsh Music Prize. The work includes posters, social media graphics and the development and maintenance of their website:
Quodega – Only Forward
Quodega – Only Forward
We used a laser cutter to etch out shapes in the album sleeve to represent the sides of the record, and the track lengths, keeping the design minimal and clean, with a colourful, gradiented inner sleeve to compliment.
Quodega’s ‘Only Forward’ is a departure from their scintillating post-rock debut, instead adopting the form of super-charged, perspicacious electronica. It is the brainchild of award-winning composer Tom Raybould, whose work has previously been released by Rough Trade and Warp Records, and infamously been sampled on The Weeknd’s hit, ‘The Hills’.
Cotton Wolf ‘Ofni’
Cotton Wolf ‘Ofni’
Following on from their 2017 ‘Welsh Music Prize’ nominated debut ‘Life in Analogue’, ‘Ofni’ is Cotton Wolf sophomore album. Set against a thematic backdrop of social uncertainty, the album’s darker material is simultaneously imbued with anxious paranoia and hopeful positivity. The new tracks from the Cardiff duo showcase a bolder production with faster tempos and purer electronic sounds, alongside hypnotic, abstract and melodic ideas inherent to their previous release. Whilst the bulk of the album is instrumental, the title track features an ethereal vocal contribution by Adwaith’s Hollie Singer.
The cover artwork is by Louise Mason. Layout and Typography is by Ctrl Alt Design. The cover is printed with a magenta foil and the vinyl is pressed on red vinyl.
8 – A Film and Live Soundtrack
8 – A Film & Live Soundtrack
Sound+Vision‘s event featured seven musicians alongside one filmmaker. 8 reels of super 8 were filmed throughout Wales, capturing the juxtaposition between the natural and the industrial. The soundtrack was played improvised and played live at the Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre, National Museum Cardiff.
The artists involved were… Cian Ciarán, Esther, The Gentle Good, Teddy Hunter, Kris Jenkins, Secondson, Meilyr Tomos & Toby Cameron.
Ctrl Alt Design created the posters and social media graphics for the project.
Juniper
Juniper
Leading on from their award-winning fulldome film, Liminality, Cardiff based creative collaborators Matt Wright and Janire Najera immerse audiences in the music of Slowly Rolling Camera. Commissioned by Ffotogallery to premiere at Diffusion 2019, Juniper explores how sound and moving image merge within live performance. The unique show saw Slowly Rolling Camera performing their critically acclaimed third album Juniper in its entirety, accompanied by a visual score created by 4pi Productions.
Ctrl Alt Design created the posters and marketing materials for the live show at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff.
Independent Venues Week 2019
Independent Venues Week 2019
Independent Venues Week promotes music at grassroots venues across the UK each year. We were approached to design posters and social media graphics for the 2019 schedule in Wales.
